Edmonton bluesman Jimmy Guiboche is excited to bring a new line up of his band Jimmy and the Sleepers to Lethbridge to play a special Lethbridge Folk Club show at Pavan Park with Reid and Writes, Saturday, July 23.

 You may recognize Guiboche from a couple of Lethbridge shows including playing with fellow Edmontonian Kat Danser.

“ Jimmy and the Sleepers has always been a part time band because we all have different projects,” Guiboche said, adding he is just happy to be playing again after two long years of not being able to play at all because of Covid.

“ I’m just pleased to be playing again. It seems that ever since Covid and not getting to play at all, playing gives me a deeper sense of joy these days. So maybe there is a silver lining, but I don’t want to do it again,” said Guiboche, who has recorded three CDs over the past 20 years playing with several different incarnations of Sleepers which has included Rott’n Dan Shinnan and Emmet Van Etten from the Boogie Patrol, powerhouse vocalist Alex Varughese and drummer extraordinaire Grant Stovel and other luminaries of the Edmonton scene.

 The current Sleepers include long time bassist Chris Brzezicki.

“He’s been with me since the very beginning. He’s one of the best bassists in Canada in my opinion. He has a really deep and soulful feel. He’s the consummate professional,” Guiboche enthused.

 He has also added Calgary harp player Ethan “Shorty” Askey, vocalist Jared Sowan and drummer Bill Hobson.

“Bill played with me in the beginning,” he said.

“Jared grew up singing gospel music. It seems people who have been singing gospel since an early age have a real sense of authenticity,” he observed, noting former vocalist Alex Varughese did some soul searching during Covid.

“He decided he wanted a different career, so he went back to school,” he said.

“I met Jared a couple of years ago and reconnected with him during the Calgary Blues festival,” he said.

“He brings his confidence and presence to the music,” he said.

They released their most recent CD “ All That Money” in 2019.

“That was right before Covid. We couldn’t play it, so it’s still really fresh for us,” he said, adding they released their debut self titled CD in 2005, and the follow-up eight song CD  “C’est la Vie” in 2012

“We’ve become more of an original band since then. The first CD was our covers CD. We had two originals including an instrumental ‘Cricket Boogie’  and Big Dave McLean was on it. But it was mostly songs we were playing in our live set,” he said, adding the different line ups add new dimensions to  the band’s sound.

“It’s still Jimmy and the Sleepers music. But when I hire guys I want to hear what they have to say and what they bring to the table,” he said.

If you haven’t had enough musical festivals over the past couple week, then have some more this week.

 Hootenanny continues at Galt Gardens at 10:30 A.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

 Richard  Inman’s band Fortune  Block play the third instalment of  Upside Downtown at Casa on Thursday 5-7 p.m. followed by another production of Hamlet. The Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance society’s  production of hamlet returns to the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, Friday July 22 at 7;30 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person, or $55 for a VIP table.

Pop’s Pup North celebrates their twentieth anniversary with a two day parking lot  party, Friday and Saturday. The Trev and Ray band play at 3:30 p.m., Friday, July 22. Followed by  DanAlie at 5:30 and The Tom Price band at 7:30 p.m., who also play an outdoor Thursday concert series outside of Telegraph this Thursday.

Pops Pub North continues their  celebrations on Saturday with a testicle festivals Saturday July 23. The Bridgette Yarwood band plays at 5:30 p.m. followed by  the Plaid Ramblers at 8 p.m.

The Bridgette Yarwood band have a busy weekend as they are also playing Prairiepaloozza July 22 and 23 17 km outside of  Lethbridge and three km east of Coaldale on Hwy 512 Jail road.

The Bridgette Yarwood band play  at 7 p.m. at 7 p.m. Parabellum open the show at 5:30 p.m. Local Tragically Hip tribute the hip Trip are on at 8:45 followed by the Suit Jacket Society.

 Good Time Charlie kick off day 2 of Prariepalooza at 11 a.m. followed Ben  Charlie Faith, 21st Avenue, the Good Love band, Dead Army, Def Leppard Tribute Stage Fright and Motley Crüe tribute Live Wire finishing the night off at 11:15 p.m.

 The Lethbridge Folk Club has a big festival at Pavan Park wth Edmonton Blues band Jimmy and the sleepers and  Reid and Writes beginning at 1 p.m. Admission is $10. There will be concessions and a beer gardens.

 That’s just the music festivals and concert series.

 There is a lot more happening.

The Owl is back after South Country Fair, so have their usual Tuesday open mic tonight, Tuesday, July 19. The Owl Acoustic lounge welcomes band former Lethbridge musician, current Montrealite Richard Leigh Doerkson aka Skinny Leigh, Friday, July 22 with Kevin Giron. Admission is by donation.

Sunday at South Country  Fair is for people to recover from the two previous nights. This Sunday, July 17, was no exception.

I missed there Saturday night show, which was a good thing as some of the highlights were  performing Sunday, albeit mellower set.

My priority was Terra Lightfoot, who was a highlight Saturday night and was up relatively early to open the East stage, at noon on Sunday.

Lightfoot and her band, six dates into the “No Relation” tour as she is not related to Gordon Lightfoot, but is always asked if she is, eased into their set which focussed on her“ Consider the Speed ”CD and some brand new songs.

 She started slow with “ Empty House” and “ Wild Horses,” before voicing up the tempo for the highlight  “Called Out Your Name ” was a highlight and “ It’s Over Now,” which had a ew folks singing along, seated in front of the stage.

 Lightfoot sat to start her set, strumming her SG then switched to  an acoustic  and showed some skills on it while her band took a break.

She had the audience crooning along on  “One High Note.”

 She was called back for an encore, which she played in the middle of the audience while Jon Martin and the Lovers set up.

 She played a new song about being a parent during the pandemic.“ I was wondering what I could do as a songwriter who is not a parent or grandparent,” she observed.

 She stood up, strumming an old Telecaster and had most of the audience on their feet by the end of her set.

As everyone was there, most people missed a beautifully hypnotic set from the Mayhemingways’ Benj Rowland showing his prowess on a variety of instruments including bouzouki, hurdy gurdy, accordion and guitar.

“ I’m from Peterborough, the home of Washboard Hank,” Rowland said, playing a song  about a beloved Peterborough venue that has since closed and where Washboard Hank among other had played.

There is always a new happy discovery at the Fair, even if they are old hat to some people. This time it was Beautiful Joe, a supergroup including Steve Pineo, Tim Leacock and  Jane Hawley, all respected songwriters and players in their own right, backed by  Ross Watson and  Danny Patton.

 They formed in the ’90s then parted ways, but reunited along the way.

They each took turns singing  their songs, and added leads and harmony vocals to the others.

They played variety of covers and originals.  Hawley added harmonies, fiddle and acoustic guitar when not singing lead on her own songs.

 One of many highlights of a set that spanned blues, country, folk and alternative country was Pineo’s “ Too Bad For Me,” which Prairie Oyster recorded.

 It’s good to be back.

 It’s been two long years since we had a South Country Fair to look forward to in  the Fort Macleod Fish and Game Park.

So there were a lot of happy, yet sweaty and scorched people at the Fair this weekend.

The best thing about the Fair, other than the music itself is the camaraderie.

Most people was greeting each other with a cheerful “Happy Fair.” Water trucks kept everybody hydrated and a few volunteers  wandered the grounds spraying grateful people with water.

 While I missed Friday night,  I arrived in time to catch the day on the South stage, July 16 , volunteering at the CKXU tent .

I wasn’t able to check out the East stage, but there was plenty of great music happening on the South Stage.

I I arrived as Emily Triggs was in the middle of a laid back set of stories and original folk music for a few baking in front of the stage

 Another one of my favourite parts of the Fair are the workshops or South Country Fair Sessions.

With a band name like Copperhead, you’d expect some sort of Steve Earle tribute, but the Calgary based band was anything but. 

Lead singer/keyboardist Liz Stevens admitted she was feeling the effects of the night before and opted to play a laid back set of soulful dark country music more in line with the Cowboy Junkies than Steve Earle.

Multi-instrumentalist Hawksley Workman focussed on guitar playing and wanted to jam  as he shouted out  “E minor”  for everybody to jam on his first song of the workshop as Stevens thanked “musical director” Hawksley Workman.

Workman demonstrated his impressive falsetto and noted he enjoyed playing for the Geomatic Attic earlier this year. Things took off after that.

Workman played a couple of his better known songs like “Jealous of Your Cigarette” and “Battlefords” priming the audience for his Saturday night set by painting vivid, heartfelt pictures of Caandiana and youth.

 Everybody added a few notes.

Copperhead picked up the tempo and looked like they were having fun playing together.

Hoop dancer Sandra Lamouche opted to recite a couple poems for her tweener.

 Ryland Moranz started off the afternoon playing a few songs on banjo in between  acts and handed over the mic to Digital Hobo, who played a few songs from his CD “ 21st Century Ballads,” which he described as songs written about things that haven’t happened yet.

He sang songs about a world where people learned to along and had managed to control climate change. So he painted a  pretty idyllic picture of an attainable future.

His laid back , optimistic vibe pretty much epitomized what South Country Fair is all about.